I am aware that lee oskar harps come in minor keys--anybody out there use them? I wonder if you really need them when you can just play third position on the major keys
I consider an Em and an Am (Natural minors) to be essential in my bag. Third position would probably do the trick for me if I was a better player--but, until then, my Am harp for "Summertime" and "Wayfarin Stranger"--and Em just for jamming with a guitar friend of mine who has trouble singing in Am. . . . ----------
For the most part I just play 3rd pos. The limitation of that is when I want to play a nice smooth minor chord. I'm not positive what kind of minor chord the 456- is, but it's kind of shrill sometimes IMO. I find the minor tuned harps nice when I want to play more chordal stuff.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the natural minor tuning. I'm not a fan of Lee Oskar harps though. You can get minor tuned harps OOTB from Hohner (Marine bands and spec 20's, I think) and Seydel, but it's easy to make them yourself by retuning. For example, to make a Nat minor, you just flatten the 2, 5, and 8 blow notes and the 3, and 7 draw notes, all by half a step. You can do this with BluTak, and then you don't have to permanently alter your harp! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
Lee Oskar harps are always being talked down on this forum..why? They have great tunings, last very well and are very hardwearing. I play Gm's but I have all minor and hm tuned LO's.
I play in minor keys quite a bit using 4th and 5th positions--sometimes 3rd, but most often 5th. With certain bands I might be in minor keys over half the time.
People from the audience occasionally come up to me between sets and ask where i buy my minor key harps. They seem surprised and sometimes disappointed when I tell them i don't use any minor key harps.
@harmonicanick: IMHO, LOs are very good harps with good compression and are very durable. I don't use them because I don't like their tone, but that is purely subjective. On the other hand, I do not understand why Hohners are so popular.
I like the lee oskars fine and like the idea of just replacing reed plates when reeds go bad will not toss anymore harps when reeds go bad have suzuki and the hohner ms series where you can replace the reedplates also btw-thanks very much for the help on this thread what would I do without this blues harp forum?
LO's have several major weaknesses for the way I play. Foremost among them are the short-slot reeds. They make OB's squeally and hard to control, and I just can't play the things I want to play if I can't do my OB's. Beyond that, the reeds are super touchy about breath pressure, even when carefully gapped (which all my harps are), and so can blank out on you unexpectedly and unpredictably. Plus, the sound is TOO compressed for me. I need it more free and, well, Marine Band-ish.
The last thing is the nail in the coffin for me. The damn hole numbers are so extruded on the coverplates! Not only are they less comfortable against my lips, but they act to dry my lips faster,a nd hence make my lips stick tot he coverplates more frequently than with other harps.
All that together means that they are just not the right harps for me. ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
I have three minor LO's and my experience is the same as isaacullah's in the post above. I just can't play them. I even try playing soft but no luck. A real disapointment. Any suggestions? I'm learning 3rd position for minor playing.
